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This is quite straightforward. You will need some dressmaking pins and a mirror might be helpful (or a friend).

Steps

1

Put the dress on inside out.

2

Put your hands on either side of the waist and pinch equally how much you want to take in.

3

Put your first pin where the most fabric needs to be taken in.

4

Pin up and down the side seam until you have a good fit.

5

Remove the dress and tack along the pin line.

6

Put the dress back on - the right way round this time, to check that you have the fit you want - adjust if it's wrong.

This depends on how tight your finished dress is. If you make it loose enough to go over your chest and shoulders or use stretchy fabric, you should be able to pull it over your head as if it were a simple top. If it is too tight to do so, I suggest adding on a zipper or buttons if possible with your desired design.

wikiHow Video: How to Take in a Dress at the Waist

The easiest way to take in a dress at the waist is to put the dress on inside out and pin the waist where you want to take it in. Take the dress off carefully and mark the pinned area with chalk. Remove the pins, sew along the chalk line, then turn the dress right side out. Read on for more details about how to cut away excess fabric!

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Warnings

When tacking, make sure that the new seam tapers away to nothing at each end of the alteration.

Be careful not to stab yourself with the pins when you're removing the dress, if you do stab yourself make sure to put antiseptic on it and place cotton wool over it, and try not to get it on the dress.

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wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 13 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 168,657 times.